The bomber entered the mosque during the funeral and managed to bring down the roof of the mosque in Mussayab, near Baghdad in Iraq on Sunday. At least 50 were wounded as people were still being removed from the fallen debris as reported by Reuters.

The sectarian balance in the region has been affected by the conflict in Syria where mostly Sunni Muslims are fighting to take over leadership from Shi’ite Iran.

Both Sunnis and Shi'ites have journeyed into Syria from Iraq to fight against each other in this conflict.

Earlier this year, the Syrian and Iraqi branches of al Qaeda merged to form the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which has frequently claimed ownership of attacks with suicide bombing being a trademark of al Qaeda.